I Had an Idea. And Then I Had a Better One.

I had a idea, but it wasn’t a particularly good one. (Alas, my life has consistently been made up of: “Oh, yeah, that’s a good idea. I could so do that;” when the reality is more like: “That will never work!”)

This is a section from a photo album from July 4, 2009. We had this small grill, but I hadn’t actually used it myself. I had asked Kevin to put it on that bench and put the charcoal in it and light it so we could cook some hamburgers. Because I’d never used it, I didn’t realize that it had little legs that you were supposed to pull down, to raise the grill up a little bit. Kevin did indeed prepare the grill, just as I’d said to, and he came in a little while later and said, “The bench is on fire.”

That little illustration of a grill with legs is a cute sticker that I’d attached to the page, to make the whole thing look a little more attractive.

I kept that bench for many more years, but I just put plants on it and no one ever tried to sit on it.

Lately, I’ve been trying to straighten up and improve the appearance on the patio, and I had this good idea. I’ve made a shelving arrangement with some concrete pieces and cedar planks, where plants stay during the spring and summer and fall. I went to the lumber department of a local home store, chose some cedar planks, and had them cut to the right sizes. Then, I put weather sealer on them. This was a leftover piece.

I hated that the bench was unusable. I had an idea. What if I attached that extra shelf piece to the underside of the bench, underneath that burned spot. Then, folks could safely sit on it. Right?

I went and got clamps and a hand drill and some screws. I’m not real handy, but I’m sort of handy. I clamped the extra shelf piece underneath the blackened spot, then I turned the bench upside-down, to decide where I might think about drilling some holes.

This bench is, I think, leftover from a picnic table and bench set that had been on the patio since my childhood. The bench was all that was left. And, apparently, over the years, my dad, I guess, had spent time shoring up its aging self. There were screws and nails, and the whole thing was decidedly shaky. It seemed that, even if I did make the burned part sturdier, there were still going to be some security issues. I gave up. I got out a hammer, saw, screwdriver, and pliers, and took the whole thing apart. I sawed it into pieces and bagged the pieces up and put it all into the trash. And was a little sad.

I still wanted some place for folks to sit. I visited the garden departments in a few stores, looking for seats that might work. What I had in mind were smaller versions of picnic-table-type benches. I didn’t have luck finding the regular, old-fashioned-type picnic table sets, much less only benches. How disappointing!

Then I wondered if I could find something online. Well, of course I could find something online. It’s the “2 in 1 Outdoor Interchangeable Picnic Table/Garden Bench.” It comes partially assembled.

It came in a box about five feet tall and two feet wide and, oh, a couple of inches deep. It was pretty heavy. I shoved it off the porch after it got delivered; then I just turned it end over end over end, all the way to the back yard and the patio. There were all sorts of pieces (see left) and a handy tightener-thing, for bolts (see right). I had to use my own Phillips screwdriver.

There was an easy-to-understand diagram, with all the pieces illustrated and identified by number. The screws and bolts were identified by letter. That tightener was item “D.”

All put together, it can be a table with benches. Or, it can be a nice place to sit and read.

Nifty, huh.

There are many, many, many things I can’t do. And it seems like I’ve needed lots and lots of disasters to help me understand what I can easily do, what I might can get done, and what I should never, ever, ever even think of trying to do. However, the “2 in 1 Outdoor Interchangeable Picnic Table/Garden Bench,” oh, I’ve got that one!